This chapter was brought to you by AnmesicCat, and StellarAshes.
The Final Tear
“Prime Minister, the Black Dragon King is already not far from here. Our front lines can’t hold on for much longer, so please, Prime Minister, please leave the capital as soon as possible.”
The representative from all over Aklan were protected by Soldiers surrounding the borders. The recent defeats they’ve suffered and the fact that they would soon be forced to leave their homes, had filled their faces with despair. Only a few of them still acted normally, and these were the people who were worriedly pleading their Prime Minister to leave.
“I’ll be fine. You guys leave first. My teleport is far faster than Maxuns.” Qiusi answered with a smile, with an expression unbefitting of a Prime Minister who was about to be forced out of the capital of his own country.
Hearing Qiusi’s answer, these people relaxed a bit. Even though they knew little of Magic, but Prime Minister Qiusi’s immense magic strength was well known. To ask such a Sorcerer who excelled in teleportation to use a transportation tool seemed a bit… redundant.
They nodded, “We understand, then we will leave first. Please, quickly retreat to the city behind the capital.”
Qiusi smiled and nodded, then looked as all the representatives leave one by one under the guard of the Soldiers, until finally, he was the only one standing there.
It wasn’t until now that Qiusi withdrew his smile, and his brows frowned at the same time. He turned around to look deeply at the meeting room of the Aklan Republic. The broad meeting room was in the shape of a fan, with a podium in the center of it. Facing the podium, were ascending levels of seats. Qiusi’s position was on the side of the podium. As Aklan’s Prime Minister, this was a place he visited everyday.
Most of the time he came here to see the representatives as though he was coming to see a show: they argued about everything ranging from national matters to whether they should put garbage cans on the streets. Occasionally, after an argument with his son and being in a bad mood, he would come here and yell at the representatives, calling them bad examples for the society, and using their apologetic feeling to balance the hurt his son had caused him…
“Is it right or wrong to abandon this place?”
Qiusi thought carefully. What made him feel helpless was how the Dragon Emperor almost never acted as expected. Sometimes, the Dragon Emperor would indeed devise a sinister plan, but some other times, his actions seem to convey a sense of kindness. Qiusi had always thought it was a way to make him lower his guard, but strangely enough, the end results of those times proved that the Dragon Emperor really wasn’t malicious at those times.
This characteristic of the Dragon Emperor had always made Qiusi felt helpless. If everything the Emperor did was malicious, he would actually feel slightly better, but this two-sidedness actually made Qiusi grow tired from guessing.
Thinking about Dragon Emperor’s volatility, Qiusi suddenly remembered his old friend, Susanna. Susanna stood by the Dragon Emperor at the time, and due to the nature of their confrontation, Qiusi and his companions could never ask why their good friend would betray them. Gle had always thought she simply treated lovers better over friends.
But, ever since they sent Gle to the other world, the Dragon Emperor had been quiet for hundreds of years. Although sometimes he would come up with various plans, Qiusi determined the plans didn’t seem to have taken much thought, such as framing Gladiolus. Despite being the top Assassin in this world, Gladiolus lacked much strength. If Qiusi really were infuriated by his wife’s death and used all his powers as a Prime Minister, leveling the Dark Street wasn’t out of the question for him.
Qiusi had been thinking for many of years and he had always thought the Dragon Emperor’s quietness must have something to do with his good friend Susanna, but could Susanna’s death turned the Dragon Emperor’s volatility into purely evil?
“Whatever, whether you’re evil, or switching between good and evil, I must rid you while I’m still alive. I will never allow my child to sink into… the same fate as me — to struggle against the Dragon Emperor throughout his entire life.” Remembering his son, Qiusi forced out any thoughts about his past, and held his determination to fight to the death against the Dragon Emperor.
Suddenly, a strong and powerful magic fluctuation appeared behind him. Qiusi was shocked. He didn’t think there would be such a powerful Magician in this world he didn’t know about. At this point, Qiusi knew without guessing the appearance of such a strong person must have something to do with the Dragon Emperor, but he didn’t really care — he was too confident in his own comprehensive protective shield, since it was the reason he had lived for the hundreds of years of struggle against the Dragon Emperor.
Truthfully, Qiusi’s attack power was absolutely nothing in the face of a rank-X person, but his defense… let’s put it this way, Qiusi had been faced with Assassins under every strange situation one could think of: eating, showering, sleeping, etc. In one of the worst cases, he was suffering diarrhea when he ran into a damned female Assassin. That time, he was sitting on the toilet, accompanied by varying water sounds as well as the smell of his food poisoning. Because it was far too stinky, the female Assassin had covered her nostrils with toilet paper. She jumped from every angle to attack, but she could not break his protective shield.
Finally, Qiusi slowly stood up from the toilet, wiped his butt, flushed, washed his hands, then walked past the female Assassin’s body who was vomiting blood from being far too furious. He then yawned, and climbed on the bed to sleep… And then, rumors were, the female Assassin had since then quit the profession of being an Assassin.
After that, the Dragon Emperor had never sent anyone else to assassinate him, probably because he didn’t have too many Assassins under his commands, and he couldn’t afford to lose them like this.
Could it be the assassination attempts he hadn’t seen for a long time be starting again? Qiusi was actually facing the situation with an attitude of wanting to watch a good show. He turned leisurely and saw a magic door fluctuating before him. Qiusi guessed this may very well be another assassination attempt. A familiar figure emerged from the magic circle, then the figure staggered a few times, then fell to the ground, and stopped moving.
Qiusi opened his eyes wide, and looked shockingly at the unmoving body on the ground, then yelled in shock, “Liola?”
The person on the ground struggled a bit, then raised his head. Painful expressions filled his face.
“Are you… being controlled by the Dragon Emperor?” Qiusi remembered what Mizerui said, and put up his guard. He didn’t forget this person used to be top Assassin of the other world who could get his way unhindered.
“M-Mizerui was… by… the Dragon Emperor…” Liola struggled to get up, but with a frown, he spit out a mouthful of blood. He forced his body up, but he was powerless to move again.
‘Mizerui? Damn! Didn’t I tell him to be careful, and don’t act rashly by himself?’ Qiusi had a rough expression on his face. Truth was, when he heard Mizerui say that Liola had completely sunk under the Dragon Emperor’s control, he advised Mizerui to leave the Dragon Continent. After all, the Dragon Emperor couldn’t possibly have not known Mizerui’s true intent by now, but he refused to go. Qiusi could therefore do nothing but ask him to be careful.
“What happened to Mizerui?” Qiusi walked towards the Assassin on the ground. As usual, his protective shield surrounded his body every second of the minute.
Liola shook his head disgruntledly, and this action made Qiusi knit his brows even more, but all of a sudden, a purple figure flashed out of the magic door. The sword in his hand were intertwined with powerful purple aura, and the target was Liola on the ground. Qiusi didn’t have time to think, nor did he have the time to run over, so he had to extend the range of his comprehensive shield, so he could include Liola into the shield.
The protective shield successfully blocked the Dragon Emperor’s attack. When the purple aura collided with Qiusi’s shield, it created a beautiful purple fireworks, but the protective shield remained unscathed by this beautiful purple aura.
“This plan is surely dirty enough.” Qiusi’s voice was unusually dry.
The Dragon Emperor ignored Qiusi’s accusation of being low, and instead walked curiously around Qiusi’s shield, carefully observing this legendary shield that stopped him for hundreds of years, as if he was waiting…
“Is Mizerui okay?” Qiusi suddenly remembered.
The Dragon Emperor answered casually, “Mocha is in the way, so it’s not easy for me to attack.”
“I see how it is.”
Qiusi nodded, so Mizerui must be out of harm’s way for the time being. Qiusi couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. What a joke! Mizerui, who had always carelessly walked around in the Dragon Emperor’s presence, was going to outlive Qiusi himself, who was always careful and scared of being assassinated by the Dragon Emperor. Blood oozed out of Qiusi’s mouth, and it dripped past his neck, until it colored his chest.
“Sigh, looks like I can’t see my baby, Meinan, marry a girl. It’s all his fault; he looks perverted. It’s not like he hadn’t gotten himself a girlfriend, but he still couldn’t get me a daughter-in-law.” Qiusi sighed, and couldn’t help but reminded Liola, “You have to remind Meinan, when he marries a girl, remember to bring her to me to see. It would be best for them to burn a few wedding photos. Also, when they get me a grandchild, don’t forget to bring the child to my grave to call me grandpa.”
[T/N: in traditional Chinese beliefs, burning things for loved ones will make them receive it in the afterlife, hence the common practice of burning paper (fake) money; so Qiusi’s dialog for them to bring her for him to see was by burning pictures]
Liola’s body trembled slightly, and the hand holding onto Broken Silver could no longer continue to stay at the same place. He suddenly pulled Broken Silver out of Qiusi’s chest, knowing full well that this action could make Qiusi, who was still smiling lightly, lose much blood from his wound. Qiusi, who was covered with blood, suddenly lost more blood, turning his face completely pale. His body, like autumn leaves, shook a few times then fell face-first towards the ground.
Liola, practically out of reflex, threw down Broken Silver, and reached up to catch Qiusi’s falling body. At the same time, he felt the warm blood from Qiusi, Broken Silver had fallen onto the ground, making a crisp metallic sound.
Compared to the warmth of the blood, Qiusi’s face against Liola’s neck was deathly chill. Had it not been his weak breathing, Liola would’ve thought he was holding a dead man. Nevertheless, he knew, if the man wasn’t treated soon, he would not be far from a dead man.
Liola didn’t realize until now, he actually missed. Had his attack landed on the heart, Qiusi wouldn’t still be alive.
“D-don’t worry, cough cough… You didn’t do it willingly. Meinan… he will forgive you.” Qiusi said while coughing blood. The attack probably hit his lungs.
The words shot through Liola’s heart like an arrow. He suddenly understood, just now, using the opportunity of Qiusi putting himself within his shield, he jagged Broken Silver through Meinan’s father’s chest…
Qiusi, who was nearly unconscious at this point, suddenly felt Liola’s body shaking. He struggled to raise his head, only to find two streams of tears running down from the silver eyes. The pain in the silver eyes was obvious to anyone who would set their eyes on it. Qiusi tried to force himself conscious, and comforted him, “Don’t worry, it’s okay, everyone will understand, nobody would blame you.”
Hearing Qiusi’s comforting, Liola’s eyes were nearly covered by the raging tears. He no longer hesitated. He held Qiusi with one hand, and used his other hand to quickly tap the Qiusi’s pressure points across his chest. Qiusi felt something refreshing coming out of Liola’s fingers, and suddenly, the pain sensation dropped quickly, and the taste of death he had sensed was slowly fading.
[T/N: This refers to a previously noted topic: In Martial Arts novels, hitting different pressure points usually have various effects. In this case, it’s implied that tapping Qiusi’s chest pressure points would stop/slow his bleeding.]
“What are you doing? My successor!”
The Dragon Emperor seemed to have noticed something was wrong. He was already very unhappy with Liola catching Qiusi’s body, and now he was sensing Qiusi’s life stabilizing, so he knew Liola had something to do with it. This made Dragon Emperor so furious that his tone was filled with anger, thereby completing forgetting his usual elegant tone. His purple eyes were practically spitting fire, and he yelled, “Kill him! Liola, you must kill him for me!”
Liola’s body trembled, but no actions were taken. Although he was still under the Dragon Emperor’s control, instincts continuously told Liola he couldn’t kill the man in his arms, absolutely not!
Seeing Liola not moving an inch, the Dragon Emperor’s body began to shake. Having seen Liola went with the plan to assassinate Qiusi, he thought his successor was complete without any problems, but now it was failing mere centimeters before the finishing line, how could the Dragon Emperor not be enraged?
However, thinking about Liola’s recent “good behavior”, such a good successor was not easy to find. As such, the Dragon Emperor forced down the anger in his mind, and decided to have Idojin increase the control when they get back. As for now, he decided to kill Qiusi himself.
Sensing father’s anger, Liola felt so bad, as though someone was squeezing his heart tightly, and he had to rely on his instinct to disobey the order. However, he quickly noticed father was already walking his way. His immense murderous intent clearly told Liola he decided to handle Qiusi himself, and this made Liola panick to the point where he couldn’t breathe.
“Leave quickly! Use your teleport.” Liola whispered.
Though Qiusi heard Liola’s reminder, but losing so much blood had made him unable to even talk, let alone using advanced magic like teleport. He could only smile bitterly while being only half conscious. He had thought he might’ve come out with this life, but it looked difficult now. Nevertheless, forcing the Dragon Emperor to do it himself was better, at least it would reduce this pitiful child’s guilt.
The person in his arms didn’t respond and looked like he was about to pass out, Liola understood it was impossible for Qiusi to use teleport to escape. He put Qiusi on the ground gently, then turned to walk towards the Dragon Emperor, hoping to plead for mercy on Qiusi’s behalf. Liola saw his father’s cold purple eyes, and a gust of emotionless wind blew on the successor’s heart and made it colder again.
Though tears were still on his cheeks, but teared silver eyes quickly returned to the emotionless state. Liola quietly chanted again, “Kill, kill, kill…”
The Dragon Emperor stopped, and looked suspiciously at the change that occurred in the successor’s attitude. However, he was unsure; should he go up and end Qiusi’s life, or wait to see if his successor would return to his control, obey his order, and kill Qiusi? He glanced at Qiusi, who had obviously sank into unconsciousness. Despite getting Liola’s help, he could tell, without treatment soon, Qiusi still could not escape death’s grasp.
Seeing Qiusi like this, the Dragon Emperor calmed down. He playfully looked as the successor sank into his own struggle. Liola repeated “kill” quicker and quicker, and his colder and colder eyes both told the Dragon Emperor, the emotionless side of him was winning.
The Dragon Emperor found this interesting, so he casually sat down on a chair near him. Coincidentally, this was Qiusi’s Prime Minister chair.
Liola bitterly struggled between being controlled and his instincts. Suddenly, his body froze, and he yelled angrily, “Kill!” Then turned around and flew towards Qiusi’s body.
The Dragon Emperor’s interest piqued; he had originally thought that, by the looks of it, the successor was going to struggle for quite some time, but Liola’s suddenly change made Dragon Emperor skeptical. When he looked towards Qiusi, he noticed another person appearing next to Qiusi. Had it not been Liola’s yell, the Dragon Emperor honestly didn’t realize the arrival of this other person.
“Barbalis.” The Dragon Emperor showed a smile on the corner of his mouth, “So it was your arrival that reaffirmed the successor’s determination to kill. How ironic.”
Truth was, Barbalis had already sensed it when Qiusi was seriously injured. When he rushed here, he struggled to find an opportunity to save Qiusi. Fortunately, Liola sank into a struggle, and the Dragon Emperor had disgustingly put his attention on watching the successor struggle. Barbalis decided to use this time to take Qiusi away without anyone noticing, and he did indeed do a good job because, after all, the Dragon Emperor didn’t notice him, but it wasn’t enough to conceal from himself from Liola, an Assassin who could determine the number of enemies from hundreds of meters away.
It was too fast!
Although Barbalis had immediately used teleport the moment he touched Qiusi, Liola’s speed was far too quick. Before he even fully finished pronouncing “kill”, he had already appeared next to Qiusi. Without a weapon, Liola’s right hand exploded with his blood aura, and threw it at Qiusi without. Qiusi was immediately covered in blood, and then teleport finally activated, making both Qiusi and Barbalis disappear.
“Purple Tornado?” The Dragon Emperor suddenly stood up in shock. Although it wasn’t a purple aura, it was indeed a red aura laced with the color of blood, but the move was indeed Purple Tornado, the very move he once used on the successor.
The Dragon Emperor began to laugh loudly. He knew, despite the fact that Liola did not die from receiving a hit, he was a peerless Assassin with a strong body whereas Qiusi was simply a weak Sorcerer with a serious injury before the attack. Even an idiot would know, Qiusi was gone, and his successor had successfully completed the mission.
Qiusi was dead… Liola knew it well in his heart. The man whom he injured and who desperately tried to comfort him was dead. Meinan’s father was dead, killed by his own hands!
Everything was over!
Liola felt as though he saw Meinan’s vengeful eyes, Purity’s unbelievable tears, Daylight’s disappointing headshakes, and Kaiser’s rigid face, never smiling again. He had felt himself falling into an abyss, one he could never climb out of, and no one would ever come rescue him.
There was no one named “Liola” in the world, because the person who gave him this name would no longer call him with a smile. The only thing that remained, was a heartless emotionless Silver Moon Knight!
* * *
In the broad bedroom, where there were only a few simple furnitures: a bed large enough for four or five people to sleep on it, a desk and chair that, despite its simple designs, were made out of the finest wood; next to the desk, it was a bookshelf as large as a side of the walls, and the opposing wall was full of weapons and armors. Had it not been for the fact that there was a dressing table in the room, with make up and jewelry boxes lying orderly on it, one could never tell this was actually a girl’s room. Or to put it more accurately, two girls’ room.
Even though, as the Princess’s playmate since she was young, Jasmine had her own room, but the two girls had shared common interests and had grown used to living in the same room. According to them, living in the same room meant they could share clothes, make-up, and books, and they would save the trouble of having to borrow from one another.
At the time, neither of the two girls could be seen in the room, but the sound of water could be heard coming from a door, and one could vaguely hear girls talking.
“Baolilong, take off your clothes and come here, I’ll wash your head.”
Jasmine smiled as she crouched next to the path, and her body was covered in a healthy, light bronze color. She looked as Baolilong clumsily pulled the clothes on its body. Though Jasmine really wanted to go up and help, but Baolilong insisted it would take its own clothes off, because Liola had always demanded that of it.
Jasmine looked as the white chubby Baolilong pouted its mouth despite the seriousness on his face, and struggled to take off the clothes on its body. Jasmine couldn’t help but scream in her heart, “It’s so cute.”
“I have never known before, our Jasmine liked children this much. Your expression is practically like a mother looking at her own child.”
Lanski was already lying in the bath, and only her white shoulders were still showing above the water. Her cream-white golden hair was also tied up above her head, showing her long heck. Despite her liking in Baolilong, she wasn’t close to Jasmine’s near passionate love. Even after knowing Baolilong was the little Sacred White Dragon from before, Lanski only acted surprised but her affection towards it had not grown.
Finally, Baolilong took off the clothes on its body. With a bare white chubby body, it walked towards Jasmine, while murmuring complaints, “Don’t wash head, don’t like washing head.”
“No, then your hair would get dirty, and it would itch.” Jasmine would never allow Baolilong to get dirty. Jasmine was far more strict on the matters of cleanliness compared to Liola, and she was at the point of wanting to spray some perfume on the baby.
After Jasmine washed Baolilong, she put him in the bath. She then put two plastic toys in the shape of a steak and a chicken drumstick for Baolilong to play with. Now, Lanski finally couldn’t wait anymore. She took a lipstick in her hand, and wrote on the wall, “Can we start discussing now?”
Jasmine didn’t seem surprised. She took out another lipstick she had prepared, and wrote back, “Mhm, but truthfully, I can’t think of any good ideas. We aren’t strong enough, and the only person who could rescue Liola might be that weird Sorcerer, Mizerui. But we can’t even talk openly now, how could we avoid your fathers’ ears and find him in the Astronomy Tower?”
With Cappuccino and Little Fireball’s advise, the two finally understood the Dragon Emperor might be monitoring his children 24 hours a day, but they had no idea how exactly he did it. To play it safe, they decided to communicate via writing in the bathroom.
They thought the Dragon Emperor wouldn’t come spy on the girls in the bath, right? But to prevent anyone from eavesdropping, they each smuggled a lipstick into the shower. On one hand they could use writing to avoid eavesdropping; on another, lipstick written on the glossy bathroom walls could be completely wiped away without a trace by using a wet towel.
Lanski thought briefly, then wrote, “And even though Mizerui looked quite close to Liola, he is, after all, eldest brother’s subordinate. Would he really help Liola escape? Eldest brother… was the very person who prophesied Liola would be the one to kill father.” Lanski could never let go of the fact that her eldest brother had told this prophecy and it led to Liola being exiled at such a young age. She didn’t believe such a thing as a prophecy, nor did she believe Liola would kill their father.
“But I think Mocha shouldn’t be on the Dragon Emperor’s side. Rumors are, Mocha moved out of the palace into the Astronomy Tower due to a big fight he had with the Dragon Emperor at the time.” Jasmine wrote. Because of her outgoing nature, Jasmine was close to many of the Knights within the palace. Though the Knights would never disobey or betray the royal family, they still would gossip among themselves. Jasmine had heard quite a lot of rumors ever since she was young, and this was the reason why she was more familiar with the Dragon Emperor than Lanski.
Lanski hesitated, but at least there was hope. Without thinking for long, she wrote, “All right, then let’s go find eldest brother, and ask him to let Mizerui take Liola away. However, how could we avoid father finding out?”
Jasmine began to laugh, “Let’s say our Princess wants to find her eldest brother to predict who her future husband would be; wouldn’t that work?”
Seeing Jasmine’s words, Lanski didn’t play around like she had done before. She was only bitterly laughing, and this laughter immediately reminded Jasmine, the person they were trying to find a way to save was the person Lanski liked, who also happened to be Lanski’s twin brother…
Jasmine cursed to herself, thinking she was quite the idiot! She could’ve poked fun at anything but this. Recently, due to Liola’s changes, they both had been busy trying to find the reason or think of a way to rescue him, so neither had time to think about their feelings, and therefore Lanski could finally shrug off the shadow of falling in love with her own brother. In the end, Jasmine couldn’t believe she reminded her of it… Jasmine really wanted to drown herself in the bath.
Seeing Jasmine’s gloomy look because she had said the wrong thing, Lanski burst out a laughter, then wrote elegantly, “This reason isn’t bad; let’s use it.”
Jasmine looked at Lanski apologetically, but Lanski’s face was full of determination. Jasmine knew, nothing could change her mind, so there was no more point in saying anything else, because doing so may have the opposite effect.
Though Jasmine didn’t seem to argue back, Lanski could still tell, on her uneasy expression, she indeed felt guilty. To change her mind, Lanski looked towards Baolilong, thinking about grabbing it to play with Jasmine. But when she looked, she realized Baolilong was standing there frozen, and it was not playing with its toys.
“Baolilong, what’s wrong? Is the water too hot? Are you dizzy?” Lanski asked caringly.
Baolilong turned its head, and its originally pink eyes had now turned deep red. Both Lanski and Jasmine were deeply shocked by the blood-colored irises. Jasmine immediately grabbed ahold of Baolilong, and asked anxiously, “What’s wrong? Baolilong, are you okay?”
“Pa… Papa…”
Wrapping itself in Jasmine’s arms, Baolilong trembled fearfully, with tears filling its eyes. Because of its connection to Liola telepathically, it had sensed something very wrong with Liola: Liola’s heart was filled with pain and despair, and it was indirectly affecting Baolilong. Being young, Baolilong had no idea how to handle such intense negative emotions, so it had no choice but held its body rigidly, except it couldn’t hold back the trembles.
“Baolilong?” Jasmine had sensed the terror in the child she was holding. She knew this couldn’t be simply the longing for its father. Baolilong had never looked so terrified, or perhaps, the young Baolilong didn’t even know how to be terrified.
Lanski knew there was no point in guessing. She suddenly jumped out of the bath, and yelled at Jasmine, “I’ll go look for Liola! You look after Baolilong.” After that, she ran out of the bathroom without turning back.
Jasmine could only helplessly nod and hold the child even tighter in her arms, hoping to reduce its fear. She was praying to herself, ‘Liola, Liola, please don’t be trouble again!’